Who is he?
His original name was Ghantous Al Haddad. He was the son of Georges bin Ghantous from Abey, a village in the West (Mount Lebanon), and Hind bint Assaf Salim from nearby Kfarshima. He was born on July 1, 1859 and grew up in his father's village, Abey. He was later described as being of medium height, with a radiant face, white skin, blond hair, a handsome face, soft hands, bulging eyes, smiling lips, gentle, and pure of heart.
His education
From his childhood, Ghantous showed signs of intelligence, as he had a broad forehead, a sharp mind, and quick understanding. His parents were keen to enroll him in the American School of Abey, where he completed his primary education (1872 AD). He then moved to the Three Moons Orthodox College in Beirut, where he completed his secondary education. When Mr. Gabriel Chatila, the Metropolitan of Beirut and Lebanon (1870-1901), noticed him, he enrolled him in his seminary school adjacent to the Cathedral of Saint George.
His ordination and promotion
لبس غنطوس الاسكيم الرهباني ودعي “غريغوريوس” في 19 كانون الأول 1877 . تشمّس في 29 آب 1879 . كهن في 6 أيار 1890 . تسقّف على طرابلس في 10 أيار من السنة نفسها. وأخيرا تبطرك في 5 حزيران 1906 .
He served as a deacon.
بعد أن خدم غنطوس معلمه، السيّد غفرائيل، كاتباً أربع سنوات، منذ أن كان في السادسة عشرة من عمره، سامه أسقفه شمّاساً وأوكل اليه مهمات كنسيّة عديدة، رغم حداثته. فاهتم بإنشاء جريدة “الهديّة” وأشرف على طبع كتاب “البوق الإنجيلي” و “الصلوات والمزامير” وعمل على نقل خطب ومقالات عديدة من اليونانية الى العربية قام بنشرها في جريدة “الهديّة”. كما أنشأ مكتبة في دار المطرانية حفظ فيها كتباً ومخطوطات قيّمة وناب عن البطريرك في جمعية القدّيس بولس الرسول. وقد ترقّت الجمعية، بهمتّه، وأخذ أعضاؤها يطوفون البلاد عاملين على نشر الثقافة الإيمانية بين الناس.
His service as a bishop
Gregory was chosen as Bishop of Tripoli at the age of forty-one, following the death of the late Mr. Sophronius (the carpenter). He led the diocese to the port of brotherhood and reconciliation after the disputes had been prolonged there.
During this period, which lasted for sixteen years of his life, Gregory was interested in establishing the Tripoli Orthodox Brotherhood to care for the needy, establishing a library in the Metropolitan House, and renovating a school in Keftin, which had been closed for some time. He also took care of the Balamand Seminary and brought in outstanding chanters to teach Byzantine chanting there, and provided it with a library and the libraries of the monasteries of Nourieh, Hamatoura, and Keftin with books and manuscripts.
His service as a patriarch
Gregory, of blessed memory, succeeded Patriarch Meletius Doumani after his death. He was forty-seven years old. One of the most notable events during his days was the return of peace to its former course between the See of Antioch on the one hand and the Sees of Constantinople, Jerusalem and Alexandria on the other. The atmosphere had become gloomy and relations between the two parties had been severed after the locals succeeded in bringing Meletius Doumani to the Patriarchate in 1899 without those who had been appointed to it from abroad, in Istanbul and Jerusalem and both together, since 1724.
As Patriarch, Gregory strengthened the schools, especially the Balamand ones, after his predecessor had opened them at the beginning of 1900. He also established the Al-Naama magazine in 1909. He sought to move the wheel of renaissance throughout the Antiochian See and visited many of its regions.
In 1913, Gregory presided over the religious celebrations held in St. Petersburg on the occasion of the three hundredth anniversary of the Romanov dynasty’s rule in Russia. Upon his return, he brought a dozen Russian monks and entrusted them with the management of the Mar Elias Shwayya Patriarchal Monastery. The Christians of the region were impressed by the piety, asceticism, gentleness, pure Christian love, and activity of these monks. However, they returned and left Lebanon in 1915 following the First World War.
أثناء هذه الحرب (1914 – 1918) تجلّت محبة البطريرك وأحشاء رأفاته على الفقراء والمرضى والمظلومين ففتح أبواب قلبه والبطريركية لكل محتاج الى أية ملّة انتمى، لا فرق، حتى دعي بـ “أب الفقير”. وله في هذا الشأن مآثر وأخبار وشهادات تناقلتها الألسن طويلاً وما زالت الى اليوم.
وفي ربيع سنة 1920، إثر مؤتمر دمشق الذي نادى باستقلال سورية الطبيعية وبايع الوجهاء والأعيان فيه فيصلاً ملكاً عليها، كان البطريرك في طليعة المبايعين. ولما رجحت كفّة الفرنسيين واضطر فيصل الى أن يبرح دمشق في تموز من العام نفسه كان غريغوريوس الوحيد الذي خرج لوداعه حفظاً للعهد وثباتاً على العقد. قال له: “إن هذه اليد التي بايعتك ستبقى على العهد الى الأبد”. فما كان من الملك فيصل سوى أن قبّلها باكياً.
His prayers, fasting and love
اذا كانت الصلاة سر المؤمن ومرآته فإن البطريرك غريغوريوس الرابع، كما بدا لأهل زمانه، كان رجل صلاة ممتازاً. لا أخبار كثيرة ومفصّلة عندنا في هذا الشأن بل عيّنات. فقد ذكر عنه أنه أثناء الحرب العالمية الأولى، في مساء أحد مرفع الجبن، التقى نساء مسلمات يشكين الجوع قائلات: “نريد خبزاً يا أبا المساكين. نريد خبزاً لأطفالنا الجائعين!” فعاد أدراجه الى الدار البطريركية وأمر بأن توزّع عليهن المؤن من البطريركية ثم أقفل على نفسه راكعاً يصلي بين الساعة الرابعة من بعد الظهر والحادية عشر ليلاً. ولما جاءه طبّاخ البطريركية عارضاً إعداد بيضتين مقليتين بالسمن مع رغيف وقطعة حلوى، أجاب “لا يليق بي أن آكل وغيري يتضوّر جوعاً!”. ثم أمر بأن يعطى طعامه لأول فقير يمرّ بالبطريركية في الغد.
تأخّر البطريرك يوماً عن وجبة الطعام فحفظ له الطبّاخ حصّة مميّزة. فلما حضر ولاحظ أن ما أفرز له كان أشهى مما قدّم لسواه بادر بالقول: “أعطوني مما قدّمتم لإخوتي!”.
Once, when it was time for food, and it was a fasting time, the cook brought him his breakfast. Meanwhile, some children were making a noise in the Patriarchate Square, so he asked what was wrong with them and was told that they were poor and hungry, so he called them in and gave them his food.
It was said about Patriarch Gregory that he prayed without getting tired and fasted without complaining. When his health deteriorated in his old age, he insisted on adhering to his asceticism until the end.
The Patriarch often went around to his entourage asking them to forgive him for what he had done, so that he would not let the sun set on his anger.
He used to wake up the sleeping people in the Patriarchate to perform the early dawn prayer with them.
On the other hand, Patriarch Gregory treated his priests, especially the poor, with great paternal affection. When the needy among them came to him with tattered robes, he would give them the best he had, but he would keep the torn ones for himself, patch them himself and sew his own sandals with his own hands. The Patriarch's entourage was forced, as a precaution, to hide some of his priestly clothes from him so that he would not give them to the needy as well.
During the First World War, Gregory opened the doors of the Patriarchate to everyone, without discrimination. It is said that he borrowed large sums of money to feed the hungry. One of the stories about him in this regard is that he had a diamond cross that was given to him by the Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II. The Patriarch pawned it with a Jewish goldsmith from Damascus for a thousand Ottoman liras. A wealthy Muslim noticed it, released the pawn, and returned it to the Patriarch. The Patriarch took it and sold it again without anyone knowing about it, and kept a similar one made of glass. The people of the Patriarchate did not know about this until after his death.
The Patriarch used to go around with his deacon and archers, gathering those who were thrown out in the alleys to the Patriarchate and the school opposite it, and he would take care of their support. He often fed them with his own hand.
وقد قيل انه لما تفشّى وباء الكوليرا وغريغوريوس مطران على طرابلس، لم يهرب من المدينة بل شرع يزور المرضى ويعزّي المنكوبين ويعطف على الفقراء. ولمّا ألحّ عليه أصدقاؤه بالمغادرة أجاب: “ليست حياتي أفضل من الذين لا يستطيعون الفرار من الوباء!”.
بلغه يوما نفاذ الدقيق من البطريركية الا كيساً عزم الخدّام على خبزه وتوزيعه على الأرثوذكسيين دون غيرهم. فجمعهم وأخذ رغيفاً بيديه وقلّبه ثم نظر اليهم قائلاً: “لم أجد كتابة ما على الرغيف تقول إنه للروم دون سواهم!” وللحال أمرهم بتوزيع الخبز على الفقراء كافة دونما تفرقة.
One day, a beggar asked the Patriarch for alms. One of the clerics accompanying him said to him: What is your sect? The Patriarch rebuked him, saying: Would you withhold alms from him if he was of a sect other than yours? Isn’t it enough humiliation for him that he extended his hand to beg and you humiliated him by asking him about his faith?! When he said this, the Patriarch took out some money from his pocket and gave it to him, and he left happily and with a good heart.
The Patriarch was once in Zahle. After the Divine Liturgy, a Druze man approached him and asked for charity. The Patriarch did not have anything to give him, so he apologized and sent him away. The man had hardly gone far when the owner of the house that hosted the Patriarch gave him five gold liras. Gregory called the Druze man and gave him what God had bestowed upon him, saying: God has sent for us and for you!
On the other hand, once, according to what Deacon Theodosius Mutlaq narrated, during the Divine Liturgy and the Patriarch was sitting in his chair, the deacon came out with the Gospel and there was no candle in front of him because there was no one to carry it. So the Patriarch got down from his chair, took a candle and walked with it in front of the deacon while he was carrying the Gospel.
Sleep
لفظ البطريرك غريغوريوس الرابع أنفاسه الأخيرة في سوق الغرب عند الساعة الخامسة من صباح يوم الأربعاء 12 كانون الأول 1928 . كانت صحته قد أخذت في التدهور قبل ذلك بثلاثة أيام فيما كان المجمع المقدّس على وشك اختتام إحدى دوراته. وقد قيل إن كلماته الأخيرة كانت “لقد صبرت حتى النهاية!”.
نقل جسده عبر بيروت الى دمشق فاستقبله خمسون ألف مسلم دمشقي غير المسيحيين وأطلقت المدفعية مئة طلقة وطلقة فيما كانت الجماهير تصرخ: “مات أبو الفقير، بطريرك النصارى وإمام المسلمين. نزلت بالعرب الكارثة العظمى!”.
King Faisal I of Iraq participated with a hundred knights who received his coffin. A large number of Muslim sheikhs also participated in the funeral.
مفتي البقاع، محمد أمين قزعون، قال على تابوته: “لو أجاز لنا ديننا الإعتراف بنبي بعد محمد لقلت أنت هو!”. وقد قيل إن المسلمين أرادوا الصلاة عليه في الجامع الأموي الكبير.
أحد التجّار المسلمين الدمشقيين كان يرشّ الملبّس ويصيح بأعلى صوته: “هذا القدّيس أعالني أنا وأسرتي طيلة الحرب”.
The body of the Patriarch was buried in the Patriarchs' Cemetery in front of the Mariamite Cathedral.
About the forgotten saints in the Antiochian heritage (*) To Archimandrite Toma Bitar
(*) This biography was based on the following references:
- رستم، أسد. كنيسة مدينة الله أنطاكية العظمى الجزء الثالث. ص 326 – 380 .
- The Blessed Trinity Gregory, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. Compiled and arranged by the novice Samir Fayyad. Lattakia
- The late Patriarch Gregory IV (Haddad). Unpublished article prepared by Joseph Zeitoun, Patriarchal Records Secretary.